Batching automation runs

[Rune Rasmussen]

Hello

The situation:

We have an Assets Schema with 300+ objects in it.
For object we have a Confluence page.

A new Confluence page is created when a new Object is created using Jira Automation and the "Send web request" action.
The Confluence page for an Object is updated when any attribute on the Object is changed using Jira Automation and the "Send web request" action.

Sometimes we have to bulk-update all Objects and their respective Confluence pages, so we bulk change one attribute for this specific purpose that then triggers the "update Confluence page" automation.

The effect:

300+ automation runs are triggered almost simultaneously. Most of them run successfully, but some will fail with various errors.
Mostly error messages along the lines of
"Unable to render smart values when executing this rule:

Failed to get value for [WHATEVER SMART VALUE]"

This only happens when we bulk update like this.
Running the automation normally never fails.

My question:

Can I somehow batch these runs and only run 50 or 100 at a time in a clever way?

[Marc - Devoteam]

HI @Rune Rasmussen 

You can't batch automations.

Based on your setup I don't see a solution in this.

You could try to filter the objects based on another attribute on the objects to get a smaller list and then bulk update those and then others based on reverting the filter, this could lead to less updates at the same time and there fore less api calls.

An extra note, have you enabled the checkbox(es):

• Delay execution of subsequent rule actions until we've received a response for this web request
• Continue running the rule even if the request response is not successful (i.e. non-200 response)

[Rune Rasmussen]

My initial thought was to filter my objects and bulk update, I just can't find a good attribute to filter on.

I have checked those boxes.
The actions that seems to fail the most are the ones that create variables based on a smart value.

I might experiment with have another variable, let's call it {{numberOfRuns}} and just increasing it by one as the last action in my automation, and then having a condition that checks if {{numberOfRuns}} is less than 50. Though I'm unsure how nice that will play with automations running in parallel.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Rune Rasmussen 

Adding to Marc's suggestions, and without seeing the specifics of your automation rules...

I hypothesize the cause is an artifact of the bulk-update of objects leading to timing problems in the rules accessing the object data.  As you appear to be on a Premium license level, consider using the Delay() action after the update rule's trigger to reduce the chance of errors.

Kind regards,
Bill